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“Harriet, will you come in here for a minute?” Ginny calls across the Burrow. Loud enough that she could hear her, but not loud of for anyone else to notice.
Harriet had been looking for a moment to steal with Ginny all day. It had been a wonderful seventeenth birthday, better than she could have ever imagined, but a piece of her resented all the other people who wanted to stop by and give gifts, wish her well, when all she wanted was a quiet moment with Ginny.
Mostly because she knew it would be a long time till she got to again. If she ever got to again.
“I wanted to give you something special, and I wasn’t sure what,” Ginny took her hands in hers. It seemed to Harriet that he had never noticed how soft they were. Yet at the same time Harriet could feel her own Quidditch-playing callouses rubbing against Ginny’s, and she remembered playing side by side against Ginny’s twin brothers in the backyard of the Burrow. They’d just been kids then, more like sisters. Then didn’t realize they could love each other in other ways, too.
“Then I figured I would give you something so you wouldn’t forget me,” Ginny said, and just like that she took Harriet’s face in her hand and pulled it toward her own, kissing her deeply, her hand gripping her around the waist and pulling her hips into her own. Harriet allowed her own hands to slide around Ginny’s back and then around Ginny’s front, her nipples were taut through her t-shirt.
“Oy!” came a loud, aggressively masculine voice from behind them and into Ginny’s bedroom burst Ron, Ginny’s older brother. He was one of Harriet’s best friends and yet Harriet had never been more displeased to see him.
“What do you think you’re doing, Ron?” Ginny challenged. Harriet was already trying to slink out of the room, feeling guilty, but Ginny had stealthily grabbed Harriet’s hand and was holding onto it fiercely, preventing Harriet from going very far.
“Let go of her hand,” Ron demanded, glaring at Harriet.
Harriet tried, but Ginny’s hand gripped tighter.
“Who the hell are you to come in here and tell me who I can and cannot kiss? You homophobic piece of shit.” Ginny glared back at her brother.
“Homophobic? What – it’s not because – that’s not – “ Ron sputtered.
“Why else would you care so much whether I snog Harriet? You never seemed to care about me snogging Dean Thomas, did you? Harriet’s not even the first girl I kissed, just so you know! I know what I’m doing.”
Seeing Ginny so fired up defending what they had filled Harriet’s body with heat, she wanted to throw Ginny down on the bed and climb on top of her, to hell with Ron standing there. But she also still wanted to run out of the room. She knew, deep down, that Ron was right.
“Would you listen for a second?” Ron sad. “I don’t care that you’re snogging Harriet because she’s a girl. But she’s leaving. We’re all leaving. I just don’t want you to get hurt – “
“And why do you get to decide what might hurt me and what might be good for me?” Ginny spat back at him.
“I mean, I just – I care about – I wanted to protect – “
“I DON’T NEED YOUR PROTECTION, RON WEASLEY!” Ginny yelled, and it seemed to take every ounce of strength in her whole body, so much so that her grip on Harriet’s hand loosened just enough, ever so slightly. Harriet pulled her hand away.
“Ron’s right, Ginny. We have to say goodbye. We shouldn’t make this any harder than it has to be.” She was almost to the door, her glasses now slipping down her nose because her face was so sweaty. Whether it was from their passion or her nervousness, Harriet couldn’t tell.
“Harriet Potter.” Ginny walked across the room and stood so close to her she would feel her breath against her face. Ron had been only a few inches from Harriet when she arrived but Ginny acted like he wasn’t there, and Ron stepped back into the hall a few more steps, instinctively giving them space. She pressed her mouth into Harriet’s and her tongue found hers and Harriet wanted the kiss to go on forever, but it only lasted a few, precious, beautiful moments before she pulled back again. “I wanted to remember what you tasted like.”
She stepped back into her own room and waved her brother and her girlfriend off with a flick of her hand. “I’m fully aware that we have to say goodbye. Maybe when you return – and I fully expect you to return – you can both treat me like I can make my own choices, and not like something fragile you need to protect?”
Harriet met her gaze and smiled at her. She felt like she’d been chastised and yet this just made her love her more. Ginny was, and always had been, a girl who knew exactly what she wanted and what she needed. And she loved her for that.